Activated Carbon

Phosphoric (or hydrochloric or sulfuric) acid rinses actually reduce phosphorus by removing excess ash. There's some cheap Chinese carbons that are not phosphoric acid washed, they are phosphoric acid IMPREGNATED. You never want to use this kind in a reef tank.....it's intended for industry that uses tons of activated carbon. Because of the way that Matrix is extruded, they don't need to rinse it with phosphoric acid as it already has a reduced ash content. (A really good rinse of cheaper carbons in tapwater, helps remove their ash).

Most extruded (pelletized) carbons are actually air-phase (or vapor-phase) carbons and obviously not as good for our purposes because we are using them in water. (Two popular carbons that IMO are a complete waste of money like this are Kent Marine and Blue Line). With that said, not all extruded carbons are air-phase. Some are liquid-phase. Some examples would be Matrix, Rox, etc.

I've done a LOT of research into carbons as at one time I was considering starting a company in Guyana where the raw materials would have been FREE. I still may do this one day. (My potential partner backed out due to unrelated factors).

FWIW, I googled the brand in the OP. The container it's coming in is exactly like Marineland Black diamond (which is what it probably is). If it's repackaged Black Diamond, it's a nice carbon when considering price. I tend to prefer Lignite-based carbons over Bituminous Coal-based carbons, however, it is definitely more expensive. Lignite carbons are also more easily friable (when discussing carbons, friability means ability to break apart). As a result, lignite is not a good choice for high volume filter socks, high volume canister filters, etc. However, it is a good choice for fluidized bed reactors, run passively in a media bag, etc.

 

Any way we can determine weather a partiular brand of carbon is Lignite- based or Bituminous-Coal based?

 

Many brands will tell you. For instance these are; TLF Hydrocarbon, PurelyH2O, Ocean Life, Bulk Reef Supply, etc. I can tell by taking a small handful and grinding it in my hand....however, I have no way to describing this over the internet.